![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/The-Aunts-Quilt-001.jpg?resize=478%2C286&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nM & J’s\u00a0Quilt, 1999.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is far more to any kind of\u00a0art than expertise in a technique and the\u00a0use of particular materials.\u00a0 Very few gifted individuals have a\u00a0natural sense of good design and colour usage.\u00a0\u00a0The rest of us\u00a0need to put in time and effort\u00a0making our compositions work, perhaps studying along the way from people who can teach us more about the theoretical aspects of design.<\/p>\n Frequently,\u00a0a quiltmaker discovers or learns a new technique<\/span><\/em>, well new to that person, anyway, and, because it differs markedly from the more\u00a0traditional ways of making quilted textiles they’ve been using up to this time, they get carried away with how they’re now ‘making art quilts’.\u00a0 Then, since the internet does allow some of us to be very clever,\u00a0the instant expert\u00a0will often choose to go online\u00a0with photographs or a short video tutorial on this marvellous technique they’ve recently discovered. Traditionally, quiltmakers have shared knowledge, advice and tips generously, but when\u00a0a tutorial purports to teach how easy it is to ‘make an art quilt’ I feel a bit sad for someone who will view it, and then think they, too, can so easily be making an\u00a0‘art quilt’ just like it without spending time on matters of design and colour theory.<\/p>\n Dropping a few modern art names into\u00a0a blog\u00a0post about one’s latest completed project\u00a0doesn’t elevate the quality of the art, either,<\/em><\/span> and one of my very pet peeves is those who title their works to include well known names,\u00a0and\/or sprinkle\u00a0their artist statements\u00a0with references of influences by popular favourites\u00a0such as\u00a0Klimt, Mondrian, Picasso, Rothko, Matisse et al<\/em>\u00a0– in sort of self-glorifying critique mode, and\u00a0this kind of thing is not confined to quilt makers, either.<\/p>\n